


Making It Shine

by EternallyEC



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: F/F, Meant To Be, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, frenemies to lovers, idiots to lovers, radio show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23168758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyEC/pseuds/EternallyEC
Summary: Tori and Andre have a hit morning radio show that evolved after Tori was effectively pushed out of the music business. But that's not her biggest regret as the greater LA area will soon learn... along with one up-and-coming writer/director who Tori never even imagined might be listening and who might understand much more than Tori could ever expect.Based on a prompt from the Jori Discord.
Relationships: Andre Harris & Tori Vega, Tori Vega/Jade West
Comments: 27
Kudos: 219





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a frenzy after reading the prompt the other night and let it sit for a couple of days before quickly editing it just now. I'm obsessed with the idea and while I've lost the prompt, I just want to say a huge thanks to the person who submitted it! It really inspired me. 
> 
> I also wanted to add that more of I Think You Know Me *will* be coming, I've just been struggling a bit with it and now that work's been crazy (I'm a cashier in the US during this craziness, enough said), I've had a hard time finding the energy or time to write. But I fully plan on finishing it and hope to have an update soon!

“ _Good morning, Los Angeles, and welcome to LA’s #1 morning show:_ _Making It Shine_ _with Tori Vega and Andre Harris!”_

Tori smiles as she listens to the familiar recorded greeting, taking a sip of her coffee and giving Andre a warm smile. As the applause track tapers off, she clears her throat and flips her mic on, relishing in the second of anticipation that comes just before she breaks into the dead air every morning.

“Good morning, LA! I’m Tori Vega and I’m here with my co-host and best friend Andre Harris,” she says, ramping up her already bubbly personality for the benefit of their listeners. “Today we’re going to be covering a variety of topics from _the_ hottest upcoming film from a brand-new director Andre and I happen to know personally to the latest Hollywood breakup. Who’s Splitsville this time?” she asked with a smirk. “Stay tuned to find out! But for now, let’s get the weather and traffic from Andre.”

Flipping her mic off, she takes a breath and another sip of coffee. Her entire body is practically thrumming with energy in the same way it once did whenever she had taken the stage at a sold-out concert and she’s reminded of why she decided to take Andre up on his offer when he’d been offered the show. Sometimes, she still misses the thrill of performing for sold-out venues, of recording new music and the hectic pressure to make an album, but she’d been forced into early retirement when she’d developed vocal nodules.

Although they had healed and she could still sing, the rest period required had been enough for the record company to throw out her contract and after a lot of tears and wine, she had decided to bow out gracefully and take the exit while she was still on top. It had been a very difficult time and only her friends had gotten her through the death of her dream, with one dark-haired goth helping over the phone as much as she could, although Tori was under strict penalty of death if she ever revealed _that_ to anyone.

The show seems to fly by just as quickly as usual, the rapport she and Andre had built for years serving them just as well as it always did and helping them build a relationship with everyone who called in to talk to them. Tori has to admit that the one-on-one interactions were a definitely perk in comparison to her life as a pop star, enjoying the opportunity to connect with and help people the way she hadn’t been able to before.

“And now, it’s time for _Tori’s Throwback Thursday_ ,” Andre announces with a grin, giving Tori a thumbs up.

Tori grins back at him and waits for her musical cue before breaking into the intro music. “Welcome back to _Tori’s Throwback Thursday_ , the day where Andre and I travel back in time and talk about whatever we feel like. Andre, what’s on your mind to start us off?”

“I’m glad you asked, Tor,” Andre says with a wink that makes Tori feel slightly uneasy as she wonders what he’s up to. One of the unwritten rules of this segment is that they don’t discuss the topics each of them will bring. It makes the material feel fresh and they’re both convinced that’s why it’s one of their most-played segments according to the streaming data.

Normally, Tori’s fine with it; she and Andre have been friends long enough to know each other’s boundaries and in the year they’ve been doing the show, nothing has come up that’s seriously pushed the limits.

But now…

Tori shakes off her misgivings and forces herself to focus again. She’s being ridiculous and she’s missing what Andre’s saying because of it, she tells herself with an internal eye roll.

“I thought that today, we could talk about things we regret from Hollywood Arts and maybe even since then,” Andre is saying, and Tori can feel herself relax. Oh, so that’s all he has in mind, she thinks as she shoots him a relieved smile, kicking herself for overreacting.

“That’s a good one, Andre,” she muses thoughtfully, drawing the suspense out. “I think we all have our fair share of regrets in life, right? I mean, obviously, there’s the big one,” she says with a sad smile. “I know that retiring from singing was my choice and I love doing this show together, but that doesn’t mean I don’t regret having to give up on my dream so soon. But it could always be worse,” she adds, the trademark Tori Vega optimism coming out. “I was able to release two albums and do a full tour before I retired, and that’s more than a lot of people get.”

Andre smiled and gave her a thumbs-up as he spoke into the mic again. “When you’re right, you’re right, Tor,” he says warmly. “You got dealt a bad hand but you’ve done great things with it, just like you always do. So what else you got on your mind over there?”

Tori hesitates. There _is_ one other thing that she could talk about, but it’s something that she’s never confessed out loud to anyone but Andre before and the idea of doing it now to the greater LA area is enough to freeze her nerves. But then she sees Andre give her an encouraging nod, saying something she can’t really hear but is probably just to fill the dead air anyway, and she feels her nerves give way.

She’s not sure what gives her the guts to do it. Maybe it’s the fact that Andre is there with her and that she can pretend it’s just the two of them talking into a mic, ignoring the thousands of listeners their show gets. Maybe it’s that intimate setting of the radio booth where she’s grown so accustomed to talking about anything or everything. Or, she thinks, maybe it’s just that she _wants_ to get the words out so badly.

But in the end, she thinks as she waits for her chance, maybe the reason why doesn’t matter at all. Maybe all that really matters is that she _does_ talk about it at last.

“Well, now that you mention it...” she cuts in when Andre stops talking, getting her signal and _god_ , she loves their unspoken communication that makes working together a breeze.

“When I was in high school, there was this girl who I was head over heels in love with. I mean, she tormented me from the moment we met but there was just something about her, you know? I never told her,” she smiles sadly, understanding now why Andre had looked so nervous before. The look on his face now tells her that he’d wanted her to bring this up, maybe had even planned on it.

“I wasn’t out back then,” she chuckles, fingering the miniature rainbow flag she keeps in her pen holder. “But she had a boyfriend for most of the time I knew her and I was friends with both of them, so it would have been really weird to try to start anything even if I had been. Still, I really regret not telling her,” she sighs, knowing that their ratings will be excellent but somehow not finding it in herself to care.

“Andre even had a brief crush on her for a few days,” she reveals with a wink, sticking her tongue out at Andre when he puts his arms out and mouths, “Vega!”

Payback’s a bitch, after all, and so is Tori Vega when she’s put on the spot.

“We even serenaded her with a song that Andre wrote trying to get over her since she was his best friend’s girl,” she says, amusement clear in her voice as she dodges the pen Andre halfheartedly tosses in her direction.

“She despised me, although not really, and we were sort of friends--”

“Even though she was terrifying and a mean, vicious person with deep psychological issues,” Andre cuts in, giving her a triumphant look. “Those are Tori’s words, by the way, not mine.”

“Hey, you didn’t know that I was in love with her too then!” Tori protests with a laugh. “Even I didn’t know at the time.”

**~ J a d e ~**

Jade West’s listening to _Making It Shine_ on her half-hour drive into work, her usual routine and the sound of Tori Vega’s voice easing her into yet another day of playing the Hollywood game.

After graduating from Hollywood Arts, things have changed for the one-time angry rebellious teen. She’d gone to a prestigious school with an _amazing_ writing and directing program and, after an incident involving a punch bowl being poured over a grabby asshole’s head, she’d gone to therapy and anger management classes in exchange for not being kicked out.

Surprisingly enough, she’d given into both without too much of a fight, having realized the liability her rage made her and frankly, just being _tired_ of it all. Everything had helped and she’d finally quieted some, though the anger was never really gone, just sort of simmering where it had once been on a constant boil.

After graduating, she’d quickly found work writing scripts for people who didn’t have the time but did have the ideas. Although it wasn’t an ideal job, it was easy enough and allowed her the time and energy to work on preparing and shopping her own scripts while paying her bills. It was hardly a year later when she optioned her first script and although that never did come to fruition, it did open a door that had led her to where she was now.

Somehow, the studio had picked up her script for _The Scissoring 2:_ _Resurrection_ and loved it. They had originally approached the original director to return but he’d refused, citing his enjoyed continued retirement. But what Jade truly can’t believe, not even now, is that he’d told them (and later her in a phone call that she _definitely_ hadn’t been teary-eyed by the end of) that the script was good and that they should have the writer direct it since she clearly had the vision and skill and _heart_ for it.

Sometimes, Jade still has trouble believing it, even now that they’re halfway through shooting and everything is coming together better than she’d ever dared to hope. Her old insecurities still raise their ugly head from time to time, especially since she’s been single for going on two years now, and if something as simple as secretly listening to Vega’s radio show can help keep her head in a good place, she’ll be damned if she fights it.

She smiles as she reaches down to turn the volume up as the topic turns to regrets. Jade has a few of those of her own, but she wonders what someone like Tori Vega could possibly have to regret. Listening intently, she frowns at the mention of Tori’s being forced into early retirement. She can still remember the day that the singer had called her in tears, her voice barely a whisper for fear of hurting her throat but being too devastated to settle for a phone call. Jade’s anger had nearly exploded for the first time in years then, and she’d wanted nothing more than to wage a very public campaign against the assholes responsible, but of course, Tori had begged her not to do anything of the sort and she’d listened. Because she’s always listened to Tori Vega, even when she used to insist she hated her.

But then, the conversation takes a turn that Jade West could never have expected.

“ _When I was in high school, there was this girl who I was head over heels in love with. I mean, she tormented me from the moment we met but there was just something about her, you know? I never told her.”_

She vaguely hears the rest of the conversation, but that’s the sentence that keeps reverberating in her mind. There’s no doubt in her mind about who Tori was talking about, but Jade can’t seem to wrap her mind around it. Everyone had loved Tori at Hollywood Arts, with one very notable exception. But that couldn’t be right… could it?

She thinks that there has to have been a mistake, something that she misheard. Definitely too distracted to drive, she pulls off at the next exit and parks at a Starbucks. Texting her assistant that she’s running late and with instructions about what to do in the meantime, she quickly pulls up the radio station’s app and scrolls through until she finds the recording of the show. Thankfully, it’s up early today and Jade finds the segment easily enough.

Her car’s Bluetooth is connected so the interview comes through the speakers again, and this time Jade forces herself to pay attention. So Tori had been in love with a girl who’d tormented her since the day they’d met (check), someone with a boyfriend she was also friends with (check), someone who Andre had also crushed on briefly (check—although she’d never said anything, of _course_ she’d known that Andre had developed a crush on her and frankly, she’s always rather suspected that song had been meant for her all along)…

She doesn’t even have to touch the ‘kind of friends’ or the frankly insulting Tori quote she’ll definitely have to pay her back for now to connect the dots.

No matter how she might try, Jade can’t deny the truth of what she’s hearing anymore. The regret of not telling someone how she feels is one that she knows personally and, ironically enough, hers is about Tori in the same way that Tori’s is obviously about her. She can’t help but scoff in disbelief, staring out the windshield at the busy coffee shop as she tries to come to grips with it all, thinking that the worst part of all has to be the cruel joke that Tori had been in love with her at the exact same time Jade had been been in love with her too.

Drumming her black-painted fingernails on the steering wheel while the show plays on, Jade wonders about her use of the past tense in that sentence. Because the truth is, while she and Vega still don’t exactly get on and don’t often see each other, she’s still the only one that Jade feels comfortable enough to be herself with. She’d been the one to initiate most of the phone and Skype calls while Tori was struggling with her forced ‘early retirement’, knowing exactly how crushed the other girl was even when she tried so hard to hide it.

She’d spent almost every night that Tori was in the hospital with her for as long as visiting hours would allow, although Tori had been too out of it to realize the magnitude of time she’d really been there, thank god.

And when she thinks of the way Tori said that she had loved her, her lips curve up into a soft, positively un-Jade-like smile.

With a sigh, she shakes her head and is forced to admit the truth head-on. There’s no past tense about her feelings for Tori Vega. Now, the only question that remains is…

What is she going to do about it?


	2. Chapter 2

Tori can’t deny that part of her is surprised as the day passes and the world hasn’t collapsed around her after admitting out loud, on the _radio_ no less, that she’d once been in love with Jade West.

But as the hours bleed into afternoon and then evening, nothing much seems to change and she begins to relax, thinking that no one she knows must have heard after all. She even allows herself a glass of wine while she works on the autobiography no one knows she’s writing, and she can’t help but smile when she realizes that she left off on her chapter about her coming out.

She’s totally relaxed and immersed in her memories being translated to paper (or, technically, screen) when her phone suddenly rings unexpectedly. She jumps, knocking her wine over onto the carpet and cursing as she hurries to right the glass. Hurrying to get the stain taken care of, she misses the call and it’s another ten minutes before she can even check to see who it was.

Her eyes widen when she sees Jade’s name in her missed calls log, and she pours herself another glass of wine, sipping at it for several minutes on the couch before she finally gathers the courage to return the call.

“About time you called me back, Vega.”

Tori can’t help but smile as she takes another sip, humming into the phone. “You made me spill wine on my carpet and I had to clean it up, _West_.”

“Still as skittish as a newborn kitten then, I see,” Jade replies quickly, her smirk audible.

Tori groans and shakes her head, stealing another sip of her wine and unable to stop smiling. Talking with Jade has always had that effect on her and it’s only intensified since they grew up and Jade finally stopped denying that they were friends. “I am _not_ ,” she retorted playfully. “If I was, I wouldn’t have watched _The Scissoring_ the other night so that I can go see the sequel next year. I hear it’s supposed to be pretty good, they’re calling the writer a visionary,” she teases, hearing Jade’s raspy chuckle and grinning, knowing it means she’s been victorious at catching the other woman off guard.

“Seriously, you watched _The Scissoring_?” Jade asks, her tone somewhere between skeptical and touched. Tori can’t help the butterflies that alight in her stomach or the way her smile stretches even more at the sound.

She hums her assent. “I don’t really get what you like about being scared, but it was pretty good,” she says with a slight shudder. “Besides, I have to support my friends, don’t I?”

And there’s that word again, the one she has to force off her tongue every time she utters it in relation to Jade West. “Friends.” It’s a title that she spent years trying to earn before realizing that she already had and that Jade just refused to admit it. It’s a title that she regretted almost as quickly as she’d won it, knowing that she wanted to be so much more.

She and Jade are friends now, she knows, and it seems terribly unfair that something she’d once wanted to desperately would be such a distasteful term now that she has it.

“Tori.” Jade’s voice is quiet and soft in a way most are never lucky enough to hear, and it’s enough to bring Tori’s head back to the present and to make her heart swell in her chest. “Thanks. I didn’t expect--”

“That’s what friends are for,” Tori interrupts with a slightly forced laugh, finishing off her glass of wine and setting the glass down. “Now, if I could just make you listen to the radio show sometime, we’d be even.”

She’s not sure if she imagines the slight hitch in Jade’s breathing, but she’s positive she isn’t imagining the strained sound in her voice when she replies after a moment. “Yeah, that’ll be the day,” she says with a chuckle, and it’s almost believable. But Tori has been subjected to Jade’s acting ability before, and she thinks she can tell the difference. And if she’s right, then Jade is _definitely_ acting right now.

But she lets it go, just laughs in response and enjoys how her head is blissfully clouded with the effects of the wine.

“When can I see you again?” she asks quietly, closing her eyes and surrendering to her urge to think of Jade. Jade, as she’d been in high school with streaks in her brunette hair or dyed ever-changing colored tips in her raven hair and Jade as she now, her hair entirely brunette and natural now but constantly cut in experimental styles.

“Two weeks from now work for you? I was actually calling to ask if you’d want to do a cameo in the movie,” Jade says bluntly, and Tori’s eyes widen in surprise once again.

“Are you kidding, Jade? I’d love to,” she replies without hesitation, beaming at the thought.

“I’m glad, Vega, because it’s the role of a lifetime. I’ll pick you up around noon on the 17th. It’s our last day of shooting.”

“I can’t wait to see you, Jade,” Tori replies through a yawn, suddenly feeling every bit of her sleepiness.

“Yeah, whatever, Vega,” Jade replies before hanging up, but Tori just smiles, knowing goodbyes aren’t a Jade West thing and having heard the warmth in her voice.

Leaving her glass in the sink and the mess on the floor, she retreats to the bedroom and sets her alarm before falling into bed.

She dreams of Jade.

**~ Two Weeks Later ~**

Tori doesn’t know she’s so nervous as she waits on the porch for Jade. But she also knows that she does know why and that it’s the same reason she’s taken more care with her appearance than she has in a while and _god_ , it’s just too early for these mental gymnastics.

She’s suddenly grateful for having spent almost an hour more than she normally would have on her hair and make-up and for the form-fitting dress she’d also spent far too long choosing when Jade pulls up. Tori’s careful as she climbs in, knowing that the dress is short enough to be indecent if she isn’t, and she has to hide a smile when she catches Jade checking out her legs when she thinks she isn’t looking.

“Vega,” she says, her husky voice as smooth as usual and it makes Tori feel a bit more at ease.

“Hey Jade,” she replies with a warm smile, shutting the door and barely getting the seat-belt buckled before Jade is pulling out of her driveway and into the street. “So, do I get to know any more about this role of a lifetime?”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that patience is a virtue?” Jade asks with a wicked smirk. “You’ll find out when we get there.”

Tori tries to pout but she can’t hold it for long, not when she’s sitting beside Jade for the first time in weeks and going to spend most of the day together. “Fine,” she sighs dramatically, though she can’t help the way the corners of her lips quirk up into a smile. “How’s filming going?”

Jade smiles then, an honest-to-god genuine smile, and Tori can feel her heart beating faster at the sight. “It’s great,” she answers sincerely, making a right-hand turn and merging into traffic with ease. “Everything’s on schedule and everyone’s pretty cool. We haven’t had any kind of drama or anything. I got a lucky break.”

“Or everyone’s smart enough to know that you’re not someone to piss off,” Tori can’t help but tease, laughing when Jade reaches blindly out and ends up awkwardly smacking her knee without ever taking her eyes off the road.

“Shut up, Vega,” she grumbles, but Tori catches the twitch of her lips that shows Jade is fighting her amusement and she grins.

“Seriously, Jade, I’m happy for you,” Tori tells her with a warm smile, unable to take her eyes off of her. Jade looks in her element zipping through LA traffic, and it’s a rare chance for Tori to study her without Jade noticing.

Where Tori’s dress is white and splashed with flowers, Jade is wearing a dark red blouse that shows off just enough cleavage to be enticing without being unprofessional. It’s paired with black slacks and a pair of heels that Tori can see just enough of to know they’re a gorgeous pair of stilettos. Tori can’t help but smile at how some things never change; she and Jade have always been and will always be complete opposites in almost every way and sometimes she still marvels at the fact that they work so well despite it.

“Thanks, Tori,” Jade replies, making another turn and Tori’s almost disappointed to see that they’re turning into the studio already. She almost misses the next words out of the other woman’s mouth, soft as they are. “It means a lot.”

Tori’s smile softens but she pretends not to hear, knowing that’s what Jade would prefer. She smiles as Jade checks in with security and gets Tori a pass without all of the red tape. Handing it over, Tori can’t help but notice the way Jade shudders slightly when their hands touch for a fraction of a second too long and she can’t help but wonder…

But no. She slams the door shut on that thought immediately, knowing that she needs to focus on reality if she’s going to make it through the day. She knows she probably imagined it anyway, wishful thinking getting in the way of reality for the thousandth time.

~ **J a d e** ~

Fuck, what was she thinking, inviting Tori to the set?

Jade’s head hasn’t stopped spinning since she picked Tori up, the familiar scent of her perfume and the way her dress clung to her and showed off her legs having immediately disoriented her. And when her hand brushed Tori’s while handing her the visitor pass, she hadn’t been able to help the way she shuddered and prolonged the contact for longer than necessary. Tori’s hand was as soft and smooth as she’s always imagined and Jade can barely focus long enough to park the car.

She really has no idea why she’d thought this was a good idea or what she’s going to do about the confession she heard two weeks ago, but she knows that today’s the day that she has to either make a move or try to get over Tori Vega altogether.

The second option, which had once sounded amazing, now scares the shit out of her in a way Jade’s never felt before and she makes a show of stretching to hide the way her hands are trembling.

Jade’s no stranger to relationships, but as she takes Tori around and introduces her to everyone, she can’t help but wonder if this is the spark everyone’s always talked about. She’d chalked it up to fiction years ago, assuming that it was just another fairy tale because she’d never experienced it.

But it’s there with Tori, sparking between them any time they brush against each other, and she knows that Tori feels it too by the way her eyes flick away and she inhales sharply. It almost feels like an electric current passing between them and it’s almost too much for Jade to bear, the thought of having to go to work after having such a heavy conversation the only thing that keeps Jade from dragging Tori off to a dark corner (or maybe a closet, like the old days—and god, isn’t _that_ a fitting metaphor, she thinks with a smirk) and having it out with her already.

But work exists and she _did_ invite Tori to set for more reasons than declaring her feelings (and god, doesn’t Jade feel disgusting for that thought), so she turns her mind to business and passes Tori a script. “There’s a hallucination sequence at the end,” she tells her bluntly, watching the Latina page through it with clear curiosity. “I want you to play Persephone.”   
  
Tori’s eyebrows shoot up as she reads the scene over, and Jade feels a surge of pride when her jaw drops and she brings her gaze up to meet Jade’s, admiration evident in her brown eyes. “Jade… this is incredible. Are you sure that I can pull this off?”

Smirking, Jade rolls her eyes. But it’s only for show and they both know it, she can tell from the way Tori bites her lip to keep from laughing. “Vega, do you think I would waste either of our time if I didn’t?” she asks in mock exasperation, still swimming in pride that Tori thought it was worth such a compliment.

“Yeah, I guess not,” Tori finally laughs. “How long do I have to learn my lines?”

Jade checks the shooting schedule on her clipboard, although she obviously knows the answer. She’s nothing if not prepared and meticulously so, after all. “We’re set to start shooting your part in about three hours,” she smirks. “That leaves you about an hour free to learn your lines after hair and make-up and costuming is done. Up to the challenge?”

“Would you have asked me if you didn’t think I was?” Tori counters with a smirk of her own and Jade can’t help but laugh.

“Touche,” she winks, leading Tori to the dressing rooms. “Tori, this is Daniella. She’s in charge of hair and make-up.” She waits a beat for the women to exchange pleasantries before flashing Daniella a small smile and continuing into the next room. “And I think you’ll remember our costume designer,” she smirks, raising her voice. “One, two, don’t let me get to three,” she says in a tone that’s somehow as warning as it ever was but has a newly playful lilt to it.

And then Cat is rushing around the corner of a costume rack, her face breaking out into a huge smile when she sees Tori standing beside Jade. “Oh, hi Tori!” she exclaims, rushing over to hug the other girl and looking at Jade with a wide smile. “You didn’t tell me that Tori would be here!”

“She’s playing Persephone,” Jade tells her with a grin, more enchanted than amused with Tori’s look of shocked pleasure than she’d ever admit.

Cat’s eyes widen and she claps her hands, jumping in excitement. “Oh, that’s perfect!” she squeals, her mind already far away as she dashes away into the racks of clothes.

“I didn’t know Cat was working on this with you,” Tori tells Jade with a bright smile and a gentle nudge of her shoulder. “That’s sweet.”

“Cat’s an amazing costume designer,” Jade shrugs. “I only wanted the best and she was happy to do it,” she tries to downplay it, though she can’t hide her smile at Tori’s approval. “But I gotta get to set and start working so that we can stay on schedule,” she says reluctantly, secretly pleased to see that Tori’s face fell slightly at the thought too.

“Guess they need the director to direct, huh?” she teases, and Jade smirks. “And I guess I’d better start learning my lines while Cat’s getting my costume together.”

“Yeah, don’t embarrass me out there, Vega,” Jade teases with a wink, smirking when Tori rolls her eyes and shoos her from the room.

Jade’s relieved to find that she can be just as focused and work just as well once she’s away with Tori, having worried that she might be distracted with the other woman so nearby. But she supposes she shouldn’t be surprised; she learned at an early age how to separate work from her personal life and years of practice make it easy to do so even now.

They’re shooting the climax today and Jade is so focused on getting everything _just right_ that she doesn’t even notice when Tori comes to stand beside her, script in hand. When Jade finally realizes she’s there, she has no idea how long she’d been standing there and she smiles at the thought. She’s never been with anyone who can just _be_ with her without talking or interrupting her and it’s a nice change.

Then she turns and her jaw actually drops when she takes in the sight of her. She’s wearing a dress that starts off with a simple black corset but then flares out into a voluminous skirt. Her hair has been teased into wild curls that fall around her face and down the back of the dress in a way that makes her look chaotic, and her make-up is understated but tasteful and she looks every inch the way Jade had described and envisioned the goddess in her script and then some.

Suddenly, she finds it hard to focus on anything and she licks her lips, considering just saying the hell with it and leaning forward to kiss her the way she’s wanted to all day and for years before.

Luckily for her (and for the crew, who she wouldn’t appreciate watching), Tori chose that moment to look up from the script and give Jade a sweet smile, taking a step back. “Sorry, I’m probably distracting you,” she laughs.

“Actually, I was thinking that I like having someone around who can just chill while I work and not distract me,” Jade admits with a smirk, enjoying the way Tori’s eyes widen at her unexpected admission. “You look amazing, Vega. Cat and Daniella did a great job on you, you look exactly how I pictured Persephone.”

Tori blushes and Jade has to avert her gaze, wanting to kiss her again too badly to do anything else. “That’s really sweet, Jade. Thank you.”

“Yeah, well, don’t tell anyone,” she smirks, nervously drumming her nails on the arm of her chair. “I have a reputation to maintain, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Tori grins as Jade turns back to her, helpless to resist the magnetic pull the other woman has always had on her.

“Know your lines yet?” Jade smirks, and Tori nods.

“Of course,” she says, as cocky as ever and Jade’s eyebrow shoots up.

“Good. Time for you to go learn your blocking,” she smirks, nodding towards the set. Raising her voice, she calls out, “All right, everyone, take ten! When we come back, we’ll shoot the final scenes so bring your A-game!”

“I thought you said I had to learn my blocking?” Tori asks suspiciously, glancing at the set as everyone disappears.

“You do,” Jade says simply, hopping out of the chair and holding out her hand. “Wrist,” she demands, and Tori complies. Jade grabs her by it, fruitlessly attempting to ignore the sparks flying between them once again at the contact, and drags her to the set. “And who better to teach you than the woman who wrote the scene?”

“Wow, this feels like we’re back in high school again,” Tori laughs, and Jade has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

“The janitor’s closet must feel symbolic to you now, huh Vega?” she smirks, watching as Tori’s cheeks turn adorably pink again. “Now neither of us are in a closet, symbolic or otherwise,” she says casually, closely watching for Tori’s reaction.

She gets it when Tori’s head snaps back up from where she’s been studying the markers, staring at her with a mouth that’s slightly open and eyes that are comically wide. “Jade--”

“Yeah, I’m bi,” she shrugs, letting out her grin as she takes in the picture of a thoroughly shocked Tori Vega. “I realized when I was in high school.”

“And you never told me?” Tori asks in mock outrage, though she can’t wipe the smile off her face. “How did you find out?”

“Well, you see...” Jade muses, taking a step closer. Part of her knows this is a bad time, knows they’re on limited time and that anyone could walk back in at any moment, but part of her doesn’t care. She’s waited too goddamn long for this chance, for this moment, and she doesn’t care who might see or how it might affect the movie, she’s _tired_ of waiting and she can’t do it anymore.

“There was this girl who came to Hollywood Arts. I was so jealous of her that I poured a cup of coffee over her head on her first day and I thought I hated her when she kissed my boyfriend the next day to get back at me,” she smirked, watching Tori’s eyes widen. “I was jealous because she was pretty and everything came so goddamn easily to her,” she smirks.

“But no matter how mean, how cruel I was to her, how many things I did to try to make her hate me and stop being so damn _nice_ , she never stopped trying to be my friend. Somewhere along the way, I let her, although I never would admit it. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that I liked her as much more than a friend.”

“Jade,” Tori breathes, and it encourages Jade to take another step closer, close enough that she can feel Tori’s breath on her face as she angles her face upwards slightly, her gaze landing on her lips.

“And then, the funniest thing happened a couple of weeks ago,” Jade breathes. “I was on my way here and I was listening to my usual radio show when what do I hear but _dear, sweet Tori Vega_ talking about regrets. It was a very interesting show,” she smirks, her eyes searching Tori’s, who is so shell-shocked that she doesn't even protest at Jade's oft-used Tori voice. “And it was very interesting to learn that we shared the exact… same… regret,” she says, slowly leaning forward with every word, giving Tori every chance to stop her.

But Tori doesn’t move a muscle and then Jade is kissing her and the sparks go crazy, dancing all along the surface of Jade’s skin as she wraps her arms around Tori and melts into her when Tori does the same.

~ **T o r i** ~

Tori’s mind is spinning and she can hardly think.

She’s kissing Jade. She’s kissing Jade West.

She’s kissing Jade West and their arms are wrapped around each other, their bodies melting into each other like they were built to do such a thing and she doesn’t think she’ll ever get enough.

They kiss for what seems like ages and yet not long enough (Tori doesn’t think she could ever have enough), only stopping when they have to come up for hair. Both are panting and Tori can’t stop staring into Jade’s blue-green eyes as she tries to come up with words.

“Wow,” she finally murmurs in a dazed whisper, blushing when Jade laughs. But she’s instantly comforted when Jade kisses her cheek, her lips brushing the shell of Tori’s ear as she whispers, “Yeah, wow.”

“Hey! You big sneak, you never told me that you listen to _Makin’ It Shine_!” Tori suddenly blurts out indignantly, her brain finally catching up to her.

Jade smirks and folds her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sorry that I do?”

“Well… I mean, no, but--”

“Vega.” Jade rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t going to tell you that I loved you over the phone, you idiot.”

Tori knows she should be more upset about the insult than she is—but then again, not really, because it’s _Jade—_ but she can’t be, her mind zeroing in on something else instead. “You love me?” she asks dumbly, wishing that she had a better brain because _god_ , she can hear herself and knows how stupid she’s sounding.

“Did you miss my whole speech about us having the same regret?” Jade snorts, but her eyes are soft and her body relaxed, her arms even dropping down to her side as she opens up to her again. “Yeah, Tori, I love you.”

“I love you too,” Tori says softly, reaching out to touch her arm and marveling at the fact that she can openly say the words now. “I have for a really long time.”

Jade is saved from answering when their ten minutes are up and the cast and crew start to stumble back into the room. She curses under her breath and casts Tori an amused look. “Shit, we never did the blocking,” she chuckles.

“That’s okay,” Tori smirks. “I’m a quick study,” she says with a wink.

“Blake! Get over here and help Tori learn her blocking,” she yells.

“Jade--”

“We’ll talk afterwards, okay?” Jade says softly, discreetly giving Tori’s hand a comforting squeeze.

Tori smiles and nods, turning her mind to the business at hand and focusing on getting the scene _right_ the first time so that she can get back to more important things.

And when the movie comes out, the soft smile on Persephone’s face and her doe eyes even as she wreaks chaos is one of the most beloved moments and Jade smirks every time someone mentions it, her eyes drifting across whatever room they’re in to find Tori.

~ FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and thanks to the Jori Discord for being so amazing! I found the Spotify playlist tonight and this ended up practically writing itself once I turned it on! Hope you all enjoyed the ride, and thanks for coming along on it with me! Feedback is always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you thought!


End file.
